Orkut Blog

Between the electronic beat and the countryside

2012-01-26T15:11:00.000-02:00

We are excited with the feedback from our users about the new themes we have released lately. Because of this and following some suggestions from our users we now present another two new themes! For those who enjoy electronic music we have a great new Electronic theme. And for the ones aiming for the calmness of the countryside, we have a theme to remember the importance of taking a time to enjoy all that life has to offer.

Enjoy the new themes Drum Machine and Countryside!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

Happy Birthday Orkut!

2012-01-24T00:29:00.000-02:00

Today is Orkut birthday! Brazil’s most loved social network is now 8 years old and in order to celebrate with you all, we created this Doodle which is grooming our page.

Almost a decade after its creation, it is still growing and getting better with the support from all of you who share news and meet your friends and interests on Orkut. It is a pride for us to be part of the lives of so many people using our social network.

Therefore, on Orkut’s birthday, we say thank you to all dozens of millions users and invite everyone to celebrate this date with us!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

New themes to give life and diversify to your profile

2012-01-20T18:45:00.000-02:00

The orkut team in its quest to hear from the user community, continues its work and has news. Today we launched a theme for gamers and another one to encourage respect for diversity. Can you imagine that we would have so many surprises? Well, keep checking our blog and the next news.

Try and share this fun experience.

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

New app for iPhone and iPod touch!

2012-01-18T11:51:00.000-02:00

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you'll be happy with what we have for you today: a new Orkut app for your mobile iOS device.

With this version, you can access your friends' profiles, scraps, updates, birthdays, and even take pictures and send it directly to your Orkut albums. As always, your feedback is very important so please send us your comments and help us make an even better Orkut for you.

Download the new Orkut app today and stay connected with your friends and family anytime, anywhere - and get an exclusive badge to personalize your Orkut profile!

Posted by Ralf Botchen, Google Engineer

Invite your friends to dance in a fashion way

2012-01-13T11:44:00.001-02:00

Everybody knows that the samba is always current, right? Orkut team prepared two new themes that will make your profile look stylish and in the rhythm of samba. After all you need to be prepared to be in a good samba party. We created a theme about samba for those already warming the tambourines for the Brazilian carnival and a fashion theme for those who believe that style is more than just clothing.

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

A new option for your home page

2012-01-11T10:11:00.001-02:00

Many people ask us where to find the information that used to be available in the previous Orkut home page such as testimonials, friends requests and birthdays. To address this, we have created a new home page similar to the one in the previous version of Orkut. The page features the information right above the list of activities.

If you wish, you can continue using the current layout and switch between pages whenever you want by using the switch button located above the list of activities.

We hope you like it! And don’t forget to send us your suggestions.

Posted by Eduardo Ferreira, Google engineer.

Themes for a new year

2012-01-07T09:00:00.001-02:00

The new year is here and the Orkut team expects 2012 healthy year for you all, and a little rest too, right? On the vacations rhythm we created a special theme for those who want to get up early in a healthy way, but also another one for those who are always late ;) So come on, try and have a healthy new year and enjoy your vacations.

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

A 2012 full of news about Orkut communities

2012-01-06T14:21:00.000-02:00

Over the last months we have been working hard to introduce major improvements to Orkut communities.

Today we are offering a single page to organize all your communities where you can check all of the new topics. You can also check your pending membership requests and easily unjoin the communities you are a member of.

For the moderators, this page is also a community management center where they can approve or reject pending membership requests. We redesigned the approval process and now they can approve all pending members at once with a single click. Simple and faster!

It is now time to make the improvements available to all Orkut users and offer everyone the same experience:

Modern and smart design with new community profile, where you can also post videos
With automatic reply updates, the topics became big chat rooms! It's no longer necessary to refresh the topic page to check the updates, they'll appear automatically
Quickly reply to topics and polls with a single click
Want to comment to a specific reply in a topic? Just use "Quote" to get your comment clearer and simpler
Express your opinion by liking a topic. To do that, use to 11 different emoticons - and you may even find some hidden emoticons ;-)
Follow all your favorite communities e check all new topics from one single place: never loose a topic again!
Check who is writting: profile photos on topics, polls and replies
Coloured and funny view mode of polls results
Improvements to community owners and moderators: they can now manage their communities and close topics with unwanted discussions or reopen it later

Starting today, all Orkut users will have the same community interface and the same functionalities, ensuring that everyone can share ideas and express themselves in an improved way.

How about it? Wait, there's more: today we are also releasing a new version of the Orkut Android app with communities, so you keep updated on all the discussions, wherever you are.

We hope you like it! And don't forget to send us your feedback!.

Posted by Luis Pereira and Diogo Kropiwiec, Google engineers.

Themes to enjoy your holidays

2011-12-22T09:00:00.001-02:00

It is almost Christmas time and we are still working to build a better Orkut. The Orkut team has two presents this Christmas: a theme for those who enjoy martial arts and another theme for children at any age who love fun stories with animals.

So enjoy it and try it. The new year will come with many surprises. Curious? So are we!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

Lastest news on communities this year

2011-12-19T18:53:00.000-02:00

After launching a complete communities redesign, as you probably had noticed, we are still launching new features for communities, like the live update on topics and the quote feature.

Thinking on how to make the user experience even better, we’ve added the “like” feature for topics. We are running a test of this feature and soon it will be expanded and improved. For now, you can use “like” on the first topic message. Show how you like the topics of a community using the emoticon that express your feelings best. Now enjoy this new feature and your holiday party, there’s a lot more comming next year!

Posted by Luís Guilherme Pereira, Google engineer

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-16T17:39:00.001-02:00

2011 went by very fast, but was full of new Orkut features. Communities were revamped and got more dynamic, and we got many new themes, badges, games and even a brand new Android app.

To celebrate the busy year and properly welcome 2012, we couldn't forget to create a special Happy Holidays badge! To get the badge, open your Orkut profile, click on "manage" under the "Badges" section, and input the following code: HOHOHO2012. But be quick, because the badge will only be available for a short time!

Despite all the new features and hard work, the Orkut team is not resting on its laurels and is preparing lots of cool stuff for 2012. So enjoy the new year's, and keep an eye on Orkut's official blog to get Orkut news first hand.

Posted by Paulo Schlup, Google Product Manager

New themes: Animes, soccer and lights

2011-12-16T14:15:00.002-02:00

We are living a month of holiday parties and Orkut team haven’t forget to prepare some gifts for you all. And this time we have three new themes: one for those who like japanese cartoons - animes, one for the soccer fans and the other one bringing the ambience of lights from this end of the year.

Enjoy the gifts and festivities, but do not forget to bring your friends!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

Tribute to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2011-12-10T00:05:00.001-02:00

On December 10th 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a basis for the construction of a new world, based on ideas that promote peace and avoid wars.

On today’s doodle, each letter represents one of 5 most important articles on the declaration:

Art. 26º - Everyone has the right to education.
Art. 13º - Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Art. 19º - Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Art. 16º - Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.
Art. 7º - All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law

The declaration became a common ideal for the whole world, so this special date could not pass by without recognition!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

New themes: rock and animals

2011-12-09T16:03:00.003-02:00

You can be happy because we have two new themes to your profile become even more joyful. We created a theme for those who love, like us, his animal friends and for those who love rock’n roll.

Your Orkut, your self expression.

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

New Orkut themes

2011-11-25T14:54:00.000-02:00

Cinema, motorcycles, Indian culture e pop lovers can count on new Orkut themes, they are ready to install.

We are aware to many comments and requests of Orkut users and soon we will have more news. So, it’s time to have fun, choose your favorite and invite friends to have fun!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

Improving Orkut Communities

2011-11-11T14:31:00.001-02:00

What feature you like best in Orkut? We've learned a lot from asking our users this question. The more frequently answer included Communities, one of the most loved features.

We've been working hard to provide a better experience in Communities and now we are ready to show to you an improved cleaner design and a bunch of new features, including:

A new community profile, including videos on description;

Follow your favorite communities and receive new topics in your home page: never miss a topic again!

Fast one-click replies on topics and polls;

See who is talking to you: Profile images on topics, polls and replies;

A fun and colorful poll results visualization;

Ability for owners and moderators to close a topic with an unwanted discussion and re-open afterwards;

And more to come!

We hope you like it! And don’t forget to send us your feedback.

Posted by Maíra Nascimento - Software Engineer

A smarter Themes Gallery

2011-10-27T16:23:00.000-02:00

You probably already tried a theme, colorful or monochromatic, textured or solid. Themes are one of the best tools to use your Orkut profile to express yourself in a fun way. We are always trying to create themes to please every user. Now, as our theme base continues to grow, we created a simple and smart way to compare themes and help you make the best choice, in a all new themes gallery. You can access the new gallery in the “themes” link in the main Orkut menu. Click the link to open the new gallery and see all themes in a single page. With one click you can try and install a new theme:

If you click the “my themes” link at the end of the themes gallery you will view all the themes you’ve already tried, including that special one that is no longer available ;)

Orkut continues to be the place that suits all tastes, so you can either apply your favorite theme or do not apply any theme at all by clicking “browse Orkut without themes”. This setting will apply to your profile and to your friend’s profile until you enable themes again. Have fun!

Posted by Koji Pereira, Google Designer

Making conversations on Orkut easier

2011-09-28T10:14:00.004-03:00

Have you ever been surprised to learn that someone commented on a video you posted but you did not noticed it? Well, some of us have also been that and we wanted to fix it it.

Today we are launching four improvements for most Orkut users:

1. A new page called "conversations", which shows new scraps you get, new replies or comments to conversations you have participated on: videos you shared, scraps you’ve posted and photos you’ve commented on.

2. An indication of items you haven’t read yet. You’ll see a small box to the right of the labels “conversations”, “reminders” and “scraps”. Those will let you know that you should check those pages for updates. Once you enter the page you’ll see a small colored mark to the left of the items that you haven’t read yet. Simply opening those pages will automatically mark those items as read.

And, due to that, we are also making two small changes:

3. Bye, bye yellow ribbon on the top of the updates. As you saw, we resolved it with a much nicer solution.

4. We aren’t showing comments on scraps you sent in your scrapbook page anymore. You’ll be able to see them in your "conversations" page, which is private to you.

Those changes should reach all users in a few days. We really hope you like them!

Posted by Debora Silva, Software Engineer

Join the World Carfree Day!

2011-09-21T16:25:00.000-03:00

Since 1998, the World Carfree Day has been celebrated every September 22nd. All over the world, people leave their cars at home and gather together to claim attention from people to our life style.

To show our support to the cause and instigate yourself to join it, we created a special theme for tomorrow, the World Carfree Day:

So, what about planning yourself to leave your car at home, jump on your bike and ride it to the places you have to go? Public transportation is also part it. The idea is to live 24 hours without a car, and maybe realize that we don't really need it seven days a week ;)

So go ahead, install the theme, invite your friends to join, and be part of it!

Posted by Ariel – Orkut Marketing Team

A little bit about copyright

2011-08-31T23:24:00.000-03:00

Do you know what copyright is? If you do, great! You can stop reading and enjoy Orkut! If you don’t; you might be interested in learning more because this is something that can affect you and the content you post on Orkut.

When somebody creates something; a poem, a painting, a song, a research paper, etc; copyright law usually protects it automatically, with some specific exceptions.

So, what does this mean to Orkut users? It means you should only post or upload something that belongs to you. If it doesn’t belong to you, you need to make sure that it’s something for which you have adequate permissions or is in the public domain, i.e. something so old that its copyright has lapsed, for instance. Or else make sure that you’re reusing content in a way that is permitted under your local copyright laws. If there’s content out there that is violating someone’s copyright, even if you’re not the one who originally posted it, you should avoid linking to it from your Orkut account.

What happens if I post content in violation of someone else’s copyright?

We want you to take full advantage of Orkut to freely post and share your own stuff and things that interest you. But if we receive a complaint from someone who is the rightful owner of something you’ve posted, Google follows the notice-and-takedown procedures set out in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Most countries have rules which protect intermediaries (like Google) from liability for information posted by users, provided we act quickly to remove or disable access to material when the copyright holder complains. If this happens, you’ll be notified and able to challenge the complaint, but we need to comply with these rules in order to keep providing you with a great experience on Orkut.

You’ll find all our help center material regarding copyright here. There, you will also find a link to the form that you can use to make a copyright complaint.

While copyright law can sometimes be complicated, we hope what we’ve explained here and the information in our help center will help you make responsible choices when posting all the fun and interesting things you enjoy sharing with your friends on Orkut.

Posted by Andressa - Google Legal Team

Featured Apps on Orkut

2011-07-28T16:07:00.000-03:00

Every day, millions of users use the applications and play games available on Orkut. Today, there are over 25,000 applications in the Orkut application directory.

Applications and games are a crucial part of making Orkut fun and we’re constantly working to improve the platform and the user experience for both developers and users. With that in mind, we’ve recently launched the new Featured Applications section in the application directory, where users can now discover new high-quality applications which have been hand-picked by our staff.

We hope this new feature helps everyone find new ways to have more fun with these games, applications, and their friends on Orkut. Enjoy!

Posted by Bruno Oliveira, Orkut Developer Programs Engineer

Verify your business on Google Maps and get an Orkut Badge

2011-06-15T14:37:00.001-03:00

Thousands of small businesses owners use Orkut to share information about their products and services, and to communicate with their customers. Now it's even easier to find these businesses using Google Maps from the owner's Orkut profile!

When you visit the Orkut profile of a business owner, you'll find a badge indicating that his listing is already on Google Maps. To visit the listing on the map, just click on the badge:

If you own a business and have an Orkut profile but you haven’t received this badge yet, simply add your listing to Google Maps. Keep in mind that your business doesn't need its own website to be listed on Google! Google Places allows business owners to manage information about their listings if they're already on Google Maps, or to add them to the map if they're not yet listed.

Once they've verified that the basic information about their business is correct and up-to-date, and added details like hours of business and photos, business owners can count on their listings being shown to Google users to grow their customer base. Their listing will appear among search results across Google, including Google Maps, even if they don't have a website. And of course, this is all completely free.

Find out more about Google Places by watching this video:

Let's get started! Claim ownership or create your business listing in Google Maps, using the same Google Account you use to access your Orkut profile. Once your business listing is verified on Google Places, your Orkut profile will earn a badge in a few days!

If you need help, visit the Google Places Help Center and watch this tutorial video about Google Places:

Here's to the success of your business!

Posted by Igor Gatis and Igor Cananea, Software Engineers

New for your Orkut photos: Popularity counter!

2011-06-13T17:31:00.000-03:00

Ever wonder how popular your photos are? Now you can know!

There’s a new feature in Orkut’s photo albums that shows you how many times each photo has been viewed. Each and every one of your photos will have a counter, keeping accurate stats on its “popularity level”. This number is refreshed every few minutes so you’ll always know how many people have checked in on the photos you keep on Orkut.

See a lot of hits? Keep the picture! No views? Maybe it’s time for a new photo, or even a new album, to give your friends something new to look at. The Orkut photo album counter is a great new and dynamic way to see how much your friends enjoy you and your photography skills!

Posted by Maira Nascimento, Software Engineer

It’s a beautiful game

2011-06-06T20:43:00.001-03:00

Football fans, we know you have been asking for your favorite sport in our themes gallery, and today we are happy to announce that you can now add soccer as a theme, in four colors: Green, Blue, Orange and Red.

Enjoy!

Posted by Susan Taing, Orkut Marketing Team

Rock On, Orkut users!

2011-05-30T22:51:00.001-03:00

By popular request, last week we released a set of new music themes on Orkut: Pop, Rap, New Rock and Rock Teen. Here’s a preview of New Rock:

Enjoy, and keep your suggestions coming for the kinds of themes you’d like to see!

Posted by Ariel, Orkut Marketing Team